Surgery

HELLO. That was a looooong break. Things for the past couple of weeks were a little hectic and I needed a time out. On Wednesday I had surgery and boyyyyyy did I underestimate it. If medical stuff grosses you out, this is not the post for you… although I will try and spare you the gory details.

Part of me is glad that I underestimated just how painful and uncomfortable this surgery was going to be because I think I would have been a lot more scared had I known what I was in for. I think part of it was a way of protecting myself and the other part was to protect those closest to me because I really do feel like it can be way harder watching someone you love go through something painful rather than experiencing it yourself.

I wasn’t allowed to eat past lunch on Tuesday which, for anyone that knows me, knows that is a good way to torture me. I actually did ok with it however, my surgery time got moved from 7:30 the next day to 11:00 so by the time my parents had brought me to the city, I had a full on migraine and thought I was going to be ill. That may seem dramatic however, I am similar to an infant and am used to being on a regular feeding schedule of every two hours and when that is disrupted, things go horribly array.

Anyways, also similar to an infant, I was curled in the fetal position alternating between my parents laps so they could pet my head like a kitty cat while I whimpered quietly. I could see people looking at me but I really didn’t care and also, mind your beeswax everyone. At 11:30 I finally got called into a room where I was told I wouldn’t be taken into surgery until about 1:00. I should also mention that I was not allowed to have my beloved coffee or even water since midnight so I was starting to feel like a shriveled prune. At 1:00 me and another man were brought up to a room in our gowns and socks to wait with several other people who would be having surgery. One after one, people were called in to talk with their doctors and then off they went to surgery. At 3:30, I was actually looking forward to having surgery in hopes that the pain medication would make my terrible headache go away. Finally, I was brought in around 4:00 to the room. The group in there was playing rap music which on the one hand I found peculiar but on the other hand kind of comforted me and made me feel like I was in my college dorm room with friends and not about to get sliced open (sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t get gory). When I was laying on the bed I remember people making comments about how tiny my arms were and me explaining that I have abnormally small hands and feet for my height. One of the doctors said he bet his hands were smaller and we sized up hands (they were smaller. sad.) and then I fell asleep.

I woke up in the operating room and my first thought was “oh no”. Between wisdom teeth and some breathing issues, I have had a couple of surgeries. There is always a healing process that is uncomfortable but in my past experiences, when you first wake up is when you feel the best. You are still loaded with pain meds and life is groovy. I immediately felt extreme pain and knew this one was going to be a doozy. They told me I needed to get moved on to another bed (I imagine it was a stretcher or something) and I remember saying “no no no no” and then went black again.

When I woke up, I was in the pre-op room and my parents and Mike were there. The lady asked what my pain number was and I said 7 or 8 to which Mike replied that for me that means a 10. And it did. My parents who had left the house early that morning still needed to have dinner and get back to our apartment to feed the kitties and it was already 8pm. Mike stayed with me and held my hand until 11 at night (way past visiting hours….thanks to my amazing nurse) when he finally had to leave. That night and the next day were pretty awful but I was allowed to go home last night because I proved I could walk a little on my own and keep some pudding down (obviously! Have we met?). Now I am home and walking around like a little old lady hunched over but at least its over. See? That wasn’t too graphic. I even left out the part that the nurse said makes most grown men scream. How thoughtful of me!